fool's errand
noun
: a needless or profitless endeavor
"No, no. You forced me into visiting him last year, and promised, if I went to see him, he should marry one of my daughters. But it ended in nothing, and I will not be sent on a fool's errand again."—
Jane Austen
Jane AustenPredicting what will happen with China is a fool's errand. China is the exception that proves so many rules wrong.—John Feffer
John FefferWhile trying to change European opinion of America is not exactly a fool's errand, neither should we expect much from the effort.—James W. Ceaser
James W. CeaserExamples of fool's errand in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Those immediate prognostications, however, are often fool's errands.
—Danny Davis, Austin American Statesman, 10 Apr. 2026
Plus, cloud unit Amazon Web Services, back in growth mode , spins off enough cash to make going against Amazon's cyber-stores a fool's errand.
—Jim Cramer, CNBC, 23 Nov. 2025
To Rothschild, that is a fool's errand.
—Shannon Bond, NPR, 15 Nov. 2025
Erasing history is a fool's errand done in the service of trying to flatten the past's complexity to serve goals other than illuminating the richness, the contradictions, the triumphs, and the tragedies of the American past.
—James Bickerton, MSNBC Newsweek, 13 Aug. 2025
And, of course, since '90s kids easily ducked those age gates, too, history shows why investing millions to build the latest and greatest age verification systems probably remains a fool's errand after all these years.
—ArsTechnica, 30 Apr. 2025
To the uninitiated, the idea of a modern-day treasure hunt may seem like something of a fool's errand.
—Megan McCluskey, Time, 27 Mar. 2025
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Danny Davis, Austin American Statesman, 10 Apr. 2026
Plus, cloud unit Amazon Web Services, back in growth mode , spins off enough cash to make going against Amazon's cyber-stores a fool's errand.
—Jim Cramer, CNBC, 23 Nov. 2025
To Rothschild, that is a fool's errand.
—Shannon Bond, NPR, 15 Nov. 2025
Erasing history is a fool's errand done in the service of trying to flatten the past's complexity to serve goals other than illuminating the richness, the contradictions, the triumphs, and the tragedies of the American past.
—James Bickerton, MSNBC Newsweek, 13 Aug. 2025
And, of course, since '90s kids easily ducked those age gates, too, history shows why investing millions to build the latest and greatest age verification systems probably remains a fool's errand after all these years.
—ArsTechnica, 30 Apr. 2025
To the uninitiated, the idea of a modern-day treasure hunt may seem like something of a fool's errand.
—Megan McCluskey, Time, 27 Mar. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Fool's errand.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fool%27s%20errand. Accessed 22 Apr. 2026.
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